Common Agricultural Policy reform – reducing the impact of farming

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Published : Oct 12, 2011 Last modified : Oct 12, 2011 05:44 PM

Today, the European Commission launched its proposals for the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) after 2013. The key objective is ‘to strengthen the competitiveness, sustainability and permanence of agriculture throughout the EU in order to secure for European citizens a healthy and high-quality source of food, preserve the environment and develop rural areas’. The proposals tie financial support more closely to environmental goals.

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The increased focus on environmental issues in the proposed CAP reform is very welcome, particularly in view of climate change and increased pressures on natural resources. The EEA will continue to provide information to support better understanding of the many dimensions and trade-offs involved.

Professor Jacqueline McGlade, EEA Executive Director

“The increased focus on environmental issues in the proposed CAP reform is very welcome,” Professor Jacqueline McGlade, EEA Executive Director, said, “particularly in view of climate change and increased pressures on natural resources. The EEA will continue to provide information to support better understanding of the many dimensions and trade-offs involved.”

The CAP is one of the EU’s strongest sectoral interventions and arguably the one with the most numerous and substantial implications for the environment, shaping the European landscape and influencing agricultural practices. Intensification and increased reliance on external inputs such as fertilisers, pesticides and water have caused major pressures on air and water quality, as well as on biodiversity. Agricultural practices also have an impact on climate change, both emitting greenhouse gases and affecting carbon storage.

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10 messages for 2010 - Agricultural ecosystems Within the framework of the CAP, the last 50 years have seen increasing attention to biodiversity, but without clear benefits so far. With agriculture covering about half of EU land area, Europe's biodiversity is linked inextricably to agricultural practices, creating valuable agro-ecosystems across the whole of Europe.

Distribution and targeting of the CAP budget from a biodiversity perspective The EU has highlighted the importance of using the Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) to prevent the abandonment of high nature value farmland and its intensification as a key action to halt biodiversity decline. The present report sets out to assess whether the current distribution of CAP funds is likely to favour the maintenance of farmland with high nature value (HNV). And it explores the extent to which CAP funds are likely to support the long-term economic and ecological sustainability of these HNV farming systems.

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